An email promising free Ericsson laptops is a hoax.
The email, which has been circulating in Otago in recent days, is a variation on a chain letter hoax that has been doing the rounds internationally since at least 2000.
In this case, the letter promises an Ericsson T18 laptop if recipients forward the message to eight people and an Ericsson R320 laptop if they forward it to 20 people.
Adding to its seeming legitimacy, the email encourages recipients to send a copy to an Anna Swelung at an Ericsson email address.
The Ericsson T18 and R320 are cellphones, not laptops and are both obsolete, being released in 2001.
The email caused difficulties for Ericsson, a leading global provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, when it first appeared eight years ago.
At that time, the message purporting to be from Ericsson said the company was giving away free T18 and R320 cellphones to compete with a similar offer from Nokia.
The letter was attributed to an Anna Swelund who was supposedly the executive promotion manager for Ericsson marketing.
Ericsson received so many inquiries about free phones that it set up an auto-response for the email address. The autoresponse said there were no free phones and no Anna Swelund working for the company.
This week, a keyword search on Ericsson's website using the words ‘‘free laptop'' resulted in the message: ‘‘Ericsson is not giving away laptops. The chain letter is a fraud'' and a link to information about the original hoax.
Friday, 5 December 2008
